hoover,
if i remember right, how best to get the quickest benefit for the buck was discussed in this forum a while ago.
there were ideas tossed about starting something in hosur, just across the border, because in karnataka tambrams qualify as linguistic minority.
the big issue is that any structure calls for seed money, organization and a minimal bureaucracy to manage the various government bureaucracies. to tell you the truth, this will take full efforts initially of atleast two people and much more later.
this means payrolls, steady income for the first few years and lots more details to be thought through.
then comes the philosophy of these charitable structures. as you have seen between yourself and me, for starters, that though both of us wish our community well, we will have differences over the religious and cultures tones of these places. to tell you the truth, the very mention of kanchi mutt is allergy to many folks here, but to others it is god personified. furthermore, the iyengars might or might not have issues over the overwhelming saivite slant, if it so happens.
i, for one, might as well lay it out, that i do not think it right to mix politics and social service. but i am aware there is a significant sympathies around here for rss, bjp etc. which i think is not good for tambram culture and ethos. hoover, all i wish to emphasize, is that to agree on a minimum common agenda might be a non starter.
please understand that i am not emphasizing the differences among us, but highlighting the issues even for a take off. for example, here in this dear forum, we had swayamvarams, and without going into details, it has now been abandoned. the swayamvarams were supposed to be an ongoing affair, sort of frachised in towns all over the south, where there was significant tambram population.
again, my personal feeling is to crack the nut quick and clean. there must be tambram boys girls who might not have proceeded for higher education due to financial hardships. RVR, i think, has mentioned that it is easy to get bank loans for education, but i was told by someone else this is no longer true. whatever it, there may be supplemental needs like books, admin fees and whatever. one young person into the education curriculum, is one family out of poverty. it is quick and has no admin costs and time lag. it is immediate.
nowadays with money everything can be obtained. there is, i think, enough infrastructure in education and health, that if a person needs medical care, with money donations, the solutions can be immediate.
which comes to another topic. who are our target audiences? is it folks who want to help themselves out of poverty? again what is poverty line for us? i mean for us is because in our community we have some norms of minimum standard of living. to me, it means a job or two for the adults, a home, enough food and transportation and something left over. not to me the savings for grandiose marriages, poonuls and extravaganzas. they should be able to get by with a simple life.
i am aware that there are certain professions by nature of which,, there is no hope for a decent living. i think, we should try to wean these people into alternate jobs or skillsets, better paying and perhaps more fulfilling. one example which all of us are ready to quote: poor vaadhiyars - yes i have sympathy for them, irrespective of their erudition. i have found that barring key times, most of the vaadhiyars sit and gossip (no offense meant here). i think they should be urged to find a second job. if the guy does not want it, too bad. our targets should be people who hate poverty and want to get out of the morass.
another issue i can think of with structures like colleges or hospitals - even though may be well run, they soon lose their focus and become the backyards of the encroaching middle class, looking for opportunities to save money. the vhs in adayar was built with british charities and many iyer admins. soon through contacts those who can afford, appealed to the charitable clauses - for example, if you have a father living with you, and has no income, but you make money, you can very correctly say that the patient has no income and qualify for the best care with not a paisa payment. in one stroke, the middle class guy is on par with the destitute hut dweller, and guess who has better contacts and knowledge of the loop holes.?
while i wish all initiatives the best of successes, i think to take selectively, education as primary target to foster and next health, any group will very quickly do more for our community than getting together and planning structures and constitutions. those may go side by side, but by the time those fructify, you might have lost 5 years time and in those 5 years a few more of our generation lost to ignorance, poverty or both.
thank you.
